Are you ready to Glow?
Did you know that an adult person can absorb around 15 kilos of cosmetic ingredients in 60 years?
In addition, 63% of women cosmetics consumers in Spain consider it impossible to understand the ingredients that make up the products. This means that they will have absorbed 15 kg of ingredients that they do not know whether or not they are good for their skin.
With this introduction, we present the new individual project ‘Design a Wellness App’ in the Ironhack UX/UI Design Bootcamp. A project carried out during 6 weeks, which aims to design an app in MVP that allows to adopt and maintain a routine that improves personal wellness.The challenge, to define an intuitive flow based on 3 functionalities:
- Being able to configure the profile and set goals
- Visualise progress and summary data
- The characteristic functionality of the App based on the value proposition.
Where did Glow come from?
To design, first you have to do research. Research to detect what problems we need to solve and what value we can provide to design a viable, feasible and desirable digital product. First of all, it was important to carry out a solid research to analyse the context and the market. Also, to contrast the information with user research.
As a starting point, we set out to investigate the field of facial care. A first analysis allowed us to detect the area of action: the lack of knowledge in the face of so many ingredients and compositions of cosmetic products. As mentioned above, 63% of women cosmetics consumers in Spain consider it impossible to understand the ingredients that make up the products. But they still use them.
So we asked ourselves, if our users don’t understand the products they use, how do they decide which routines to use? This was our research objective from the outset.
Primary research
In order to understand skincare routine habits, we designed a 13-question survey that elicited 106 responses. After obtaining the results of the survey and with the information contrasted from the secondary analysis, an interview was conducted with 10 people to find out more about why they chose their routines. Who helped them find it? How did they know if it was suitable for their skin? The objective: to find out about the skincare habits of the users and to find out what makes them choose one routine over another.
From the 10 interviews and 106 survey responses, all the information was grouped into an affinity diagram and common patterns were detected. The information was cross-checked with secondary research, and the following main findings were found:
(10/10) They trial and error with products until they find the routine that best suits their skin type.
(10/10) They want to know in full what products and ingredients are being used in the facial routine.
(7/10) After confinement, skin care increases: being at home people have much more time to take care of themselves and to add new routines.
User Persona
With all the information gathered in the research, the user persona is defined based on the most relevant data. Lola was our target user, “The friend who tries all the products she sees on Instagram”.
Problem
Once the ‘User Persona’ was defined, the next step was to pose our user’s main problem:
How can we help young women aged 18–24 to find a skincare routine that makes them feel better for their skin type within the wide range of possible ingredients and compositions?
Once the problem has been identified, it’s time to start designing. Initially, we proposed a Concept Testing to ten people with four different proposals to see which one fitted best with our users. After testing the different ideas, one of the four concepts to be developed was selected.
Value Proposition
Once the concept was selected, we entered the product definition phase. Glow is a facial care oriented mobile app that analyses your skin type to help you find a routine that suits your goals and preferences. Based on the ‘Jobs to be done’ tool, we defined the main functionalities to be developed in the first version of the MVP. With Glow, you can test and enter your improvement goals, to detect what kind of products and routines are suitable for you. In addition, with the Routine Scanner functionality, you can check if you are giving your skin what it needs and learn about alternatives.
Monetisation
As a result of the user experience proposal, it is proposed that Glow has a business model based on a premium subscription, which allows for consultations with dermo-aesthetic professionals and to receive personalised reports, in addition to the promotion of products and brands through Affiliate Marketing, as another monetisation system.
Opportunity
The differential value of Glow is that it has no direct competition. There are applications such as Charm, which allow you to keep track of your daily facial routines and monitor the progress of your skin, or applications such as Think Dirty, which allow you to scan products and see an analysis of the harmfulness of the ingredients. But they are considered indirect competition, as they deal with information in a generic rather than personalised way.
This is where the opportunity was identified: why not design an application that allows you to enter your information and objectives, and also allows you to detect which products are right for you?
Low-fi and testing
Once the idea and the value proposition had been defined, it was time to design the first low-fi flow screens. First, the prototype was tested with 8 people who were asked to explain what they thought the application would work for using the Thinking Aloud methodology. The whole process was used to understand if the flow fit with the user’s mental model. The most relevant information obtained was the following:
- Test. The introductory test is too long, people are likely to drop out just starting.
- Onboarding. There is no onboarding before the test, which prevents you from being able to see what the application is about without first completing it.
- Skipping. The initial test should not be mandatory, but also have the option to do it at another time.
- Registration. It should not be compulsory to have to register the skin every day in the progress section, but optional.
- Skin test. Users mentioned the possibility of not knowing their skin type. Alternatively, refer them to another small test to detect their skin type.
Mid-fi and testing
All the feedback received was analysed and the design of a new mid-fi prototype was proposed, following the IOS Human Interface Guidelines for Iphone design. Always looking for a simple and minimalist design.
A usability test was carried out again with 6 people in which users were asked to perform the 3 basic functionalities of the app: complete the test, scan a routine and make a daily skin register.
The feedback obtained: confusing copy, very small interactive buttons and tags (which makes interaction between screens difficult), text sizes that are not very accessible, and colour contrasts that make it difficult to carry out the main actions.
Final Design
The last testing in mid-fidelity allowed us to apply improvements that considerably improved the final navigation flow. In addition, in this last version, we worked on the visual UI design until we reached a defined Style Guide.
The visual design of Glow is based on a chromatic range of pastel shades with more saturated touches of colour, to generate at all times the sensation of viscosity and brightness of the cosmetics on the skin. That is why this concept has been transferred to a style guide with 6 main colours and two typefaces: Rylan Regular applied in the logo (and to continue with that feeling of movement and viscosity) and San Francisco for the body, as it makes it easier to read.
Meet Glow, the application that, according to the Microsoft Reaction Cards test of 14 people, is fun, creative, practical and clear.
Glow: the product
By simply logging in to the Glow app, you can perform a test to detect your skin type and enter your goals for improvement. Based on the results, the app offers you three main functionalities. Firstly, a routine scanner to detect what type of products and routines are suitable for you, as well as a proposal of more suitable alternatives. A second functionality is the daily progress control, with a calendar that allows you to do a daily check in on your mood and physical state. The third functionality allows you to set goals for improvement and modify them whenever required.
Next Steps
After analysing the whole process until the end of the project, the project was concluded with the next steps to be taken:
- Test again, this time the high fidelity prototype, to check that the flow can be completed without failures.
- Define the new backlog for the next sprint.
- Design the flow for the locked Premium features.
- Introduce In App Purchases to be able to buy products and packs without being redirected to other pages.
- Analyse metrics such as Exit Rate, or the % of new users, to implement improvements in the next Sprint.
And is that the design must be in an iterative process of constant revision, changes must be made even if the product is already on the market.
Thanks for your time! If you are interested in the project and want to give feedback I will be happy to hear it :)
